


Long Road Ahead

by Laneylane



Category: The Walking Dead
Genre: Age Regression, Age Regression/De-Aging, Bathing, Bed-Wetting, Cuddling & Snuggling, Daddy Issues, Daddy Kink, Daryl will be in it, Diapers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Little Rick, M/M, Non-Sexual Age Play, Pants wetting, Post-Apocalypse, Regression, Some death, Wetting, maybe mentions of spanking, pull ups, thumb sucking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-09-11 00:43:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8946289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laneylane/pseuds/Laneylane
Summary: Ricks a mess after the disastrous social experiment





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please Leave feed back and leave some ideals about were you would like the story to go .

It all happen so quick. One minute he was surrounded around walkers, blood, guts, limbs, and other unidentifiable pieces. 

Next, blaring lights and sirens coming from all around. 

"Put your weapons down! we are here to try and save who ever we can" A loud intercom came on from the many choppers that were flying around.  
Rick struggle and rolled on to his back holding on to the knife that plunged in to his side. he never would think he would ever see the day of rescue if it was ever was going to be one. Years after the outbreak, he figured he was condemned to live out his days in hell. He accepted this fact after his friends and family were either turnt or were brutally murdered and front of him. 

" _I could've save them_ " he could've save them all. If only he would've made better judgement and choices. All of his family could've been here.  
Now he's regretting his choice on taking his revenge on the dead corpse next to him. Was it really worth some of the good people from Alexandria dying just so he could kill one man? Negan had cost alot suffering and he felt like the time had come to take back control over what he thought was his. 

And his last ditch effort to hurry and get away from the walkers before they broke the gate and over ran the hiltop. With a deep breath, he clumsily pulled the knife from his abdomen and dragged himself in to the nearest house before blackening out.  
_____

"Good morning Mr. Evans. How are you this morning? Are you the one they got to work with the guy from the social experiment disaster?" 

He gave the receptionist a quick smile "Yes, I guess they decided to give me a good workload since I came off my break" he finished signing in and let her buzz him into the two double doors. 

He noticed they had did some slight remodeling to the place albeit the place was already outstanding in itself the owner always felt like it could fill more homely for the people who stayed there. 

After speaking to a few coworker he hastily made a retreat to his office. As much as he would love to catch up on the 6 months he was gone he definitely wanted to get more information on his new patient and resident at better homes inn. 

He had heard a lot rumors about the people they had rescued from the disastrous social experiment that had got shut down 2 months ago. Most of the people suffered from ptsd, severe anxiety, panic , somatization, and many classes of disorders and depression. 

Even with his 27 year experience in this field he wasn't sure if most of the people could be rehabilitated to extent to release back into society. After reading and seeing thing on the news about the extent things had went in the social experiment. Just the other day he had seen a article in the paper how the military was still going through the ruins and came across a fenced in ware houses. Where human bodies were hung like cattle to drain their blood and even had a shed in the back of it with a small sign stuck in the ground with the words written "Smoke House".

After the article had ran a lot people was in a uproar about releasing the people from experiment with out going through evaluations to see if they were stable enough to deal with the real world again. So here he was back at his job a month early from leave because his boss insisted they needed him till it all blew over.  
With a deep sigh he pick the up thick folder lying on his desk. On the top right corner was a label that wrote

Patient Name: Rick Grimes  
Age:37  
Race: Caucasian

He open the folder to the release form the hospital had released him with. after a few minutes of reading he seen he was admitted for a stab womb to the lower abdomen, fractured ribs, and a few cuts and bruises. Later down form the doctor made a note " Due to injury of bladder patient has became incontinent. Please advise nurses and nurses aids to supply patient with incontinence wear"


	2. Meeting Rick

After reading the psychiatric report on Rick Grimes he knew he was going to need aggressive therapy among a lot of other things, his heart went out to the man. He had lost his daughter subsequently when the parent of Shane Walsh wanted a Dna test to be done to see if in fact Judith was their granddaughter. Once the Dna test came back `they took there grandchild to undisclosed location.

The psychiatrist left a note stating after hearing about what was going to happen with Judith all communication had stop. What little he did talk just ceased at that very moment.

With a deep sigh and a pinch to the bridge off his nose, he felt a headache coming on. He knew more then anyone at the moment what this man was going through after losing his daughter. He had just lost his son in a car accident a year ago which is a reason had to the sudden break. It took a lot of support from his brother and friends but he made it through it. Only thing that seem to comfort him was knowing he was in heaven with his mother and he wasn't alone.

The loud chime from the clock on his desk brought him out of thought. "7:00".

After collecting all the papers on his desk he slipped it in his draw and locked it and made his way down to room "103". He knocked 3 times before unlocking the door and peeping in.

"Hello" he stepped all the way in and closed the door. The room was particularity clean except for bags of clothes that haven't been unpacked yet. He walked over to the bed were and gave rick a small shake.

It didn't take much before he seen eyes flutter open "Good morning Rick, I'm Andrew Evans I'm going be your caretaker" He was kinda surprised to see that he had a clean shave. The picture that came with the hospital documents had a man with a long scruffy beard and long hair. That man in the picture look to be about 15 years older then the man in front of him now.

He really wasn't expecting a response but to his surprise he got a quick shake of the head "no". 

"Come On Rick, lets get the day started and get something eat. That sounds good?"

Another head shake "No"

He was really contemplating on letting him stay in bed for a little while longer but better judgement told him otherwise. He been in the field to long to know that getting a routine early was for the best . After a ten more minutes of trying he decided he was just going have to pull the covers back and hope that he would decide to get up and not make it a altercation.

With one swift move and a small gasp from Rick, he pulled the covers back to the foot of the bed. Now that the covers were pulled back he could see the reason why he was refusing to get up. It was a very evident wet spot on the bed.

Twenty minutes later and with some encouraging he finally was able to a very embarrassed red faced Rick out the bed and into the bathroom. He offered his assistance if he needed some but was of course turned down with a door being slammed in his face.

So with that he went and stripped the bed and went to the kitchen to get two plates for breakfast since it was evident it was going take some time to get him comfortable to come out the room. Around 8 o'clock is when he step out the bathroom with sweatpants and a clean dark blue t-shirt on.

Rick I went and grab some breakfast you want to come and sit down and eat before it gets cold " He gestured towards the table where the two plates were sitting with cups of orange juice.

And again another "No" as he made his way to the work desk facing a window, sat down, and started to work on a puzzle. With that Andrew picked up the plate and brought it over to him and sat it down, really wasn't any point and trying to get him to sit at the table, all that mattered is he ate something.

He sat down and grab a book that he had brought from his office and picked through his plate as he began to read. He would look up from time to time to see how the puzzle was progressing and got up only once to clear his and Ricks plate. He also ask rick a couple times did he have to go to the bathroom and got a small "no".

A little past 11 he was deep in his book with a few pages to go till the end when he heard the sound of water spilling. He look up in seen Rick, face red as tomatoes, with tears welling up in his eyes. This prompted him to run over and see what was wrong and as soon as he approached him he could see. There was a small puddle underneath the chair Rick was siting on and a bigger spot running down his pants.

"Its going be okay Rick, don't be upset" He tried to sooth him as he guided him to the bathroom. When they got to the bathroom he helped him pull the wet pants off and handed him some wipes since he refused to take a shower or a bath. Once he was clean he gave him a new pull up and pants and went out to clean up the mess before lunch was dropped off.

After lunch he convince Rick to lay down and try to take a nap for an hour or so. which wasn't as hard as he thought it was going to be, he just rubbed his back for a few minutes till he fell asleep. He covered up Rick with a blanket and went back to finishing up his book .


	3. Where were you?

Two weeks went by without much going wrong he finally got Rick into a day to day routine. Consisting of waking up at eight, nap at twelve thirty to two, get him to therapy around five, and try to bathe him before bed at nine. Even though Andrew got met with a lot of attitude from Rick this did have a positive affect on Rick once he gradually got into the routine, the night terrors decreased slightly and he was much more rested.

It was just past two in the morning when Andrew cell phone rang. With a groan he rolled over and looked at the caller Id

"Hello, whats going on? Is everything alright ?" Andrew said frantically, sitting up in bed. He threw the covers back, and sat on the side trying to fully wake up and process what was going on.

"Mr. Evans I'm so sorry to wake you, but we're having some issues with Rick" The voice on the end sounded very frazzled. " Some how he gotten out of his room and hid in one of the utility closets. We got the door open but he has wedge himself between some shelf's and we cant convince him to come out"

Andrew was already in the process of getting dress "Is he hurt? has he said anything?"

The person on the other end hesitated for a small moment " Well... Sir, that's the reason I was calling you" He herd a deep sigh before they continued "He's pretty hysterical right now and very wet, I might add. Every time one of us goes near him he starts screaming and crying out for his daddy and moves further between the shelves. We were hoping maybe it was you he was calling for"

"Well, I'm on my way now I should be there about twenty minutes or so" He felt like he was in a daze, as he walked out the house and started his car. Andrew had just seen Rick just few hours ago, helped him get ready for bed, and stayed with him till he fell asleep like he does every night. "Are you near him? maybe I can talk to him over the phone to try and calm him down some" He felt himself start to panic a little

" Sure, just give me one moment" there was a long pause, but in the background he herd faint crying that eventually got louder. Andrew herd someone speaking and then the crying subsided slightly for moment "I'm going put you on speaker because hes to far out of reach to pass the phone"

Andrew waited a second till he herd a click "Whats going on bud? Are you okay ?"

A distant scream "Daddy", terrified and distraught had Andrew stepping on the gas pedal harder "Daddy where are you... I woke up and...and you weren't there"


	4. All is calm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew finally gets to Rick
> 
> Might be the last chapter :(

Andrew prayed Rick didn't hurt himself just because of a simple bad dream, he seen first hand how Rick could get after a bad nightmare. The fear that would be in his eyes, how he would scream and shout because he really believe things were after him. However, this was definitely not the Rick that he has gotten to know in the last two weeks. Even though Rick suffered from these night terrors they had never caused him to get in this type of head space.

Andrew pulled up to the front door, parking illegally, and ran into the building. " Im coming in now" He hung up the phone

As soon as he turned the corner around Ricks room, he ran into a couple of the aids standing outside the closet.

"Thank God, he's right in here sir" the man led him into a slightly cramped closet. Andrew could hear Rick crying but couldn't really pinpont where he was actually at untill the aid pointed to a small space between the wall and a tall shelf. He walked over and seen a small figure curled and ball wedge at the far end, Andrew let out a breath he didnt realize he'd been holding and dropped his head down in pure relief.

"Hey, bud. I'm here now. Can you come out for me ? He spoke softly as he lowered himself to Ricks level

Rick teansed at the voice, squeezing his legs tighter to his chest " Daddy.." he raised his head just enough to peak over his knees

" Im right here bud" it broke his heart to see Rick like this. It was obvious that he had been crying for a while, his blue eyes glassy, red rimmed and puffy. He stretched out a hand hoping he would come nearer so he could get him out of the cramped corner, and to make sure he was physically okay.

It took Rick a moment but eventually he started to crawl his way " Come on, Rick" he tried to give him some reinsurance once he got half way and froze, deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. He could see his bottom lip tremble, and tears building up again before Rick turned his head to hide it. Andrew reach forward and grabbed Ricks hands, he kept his hold on them, ducking his head to meet Ricks eyes. "C'mon bud, talk to me. Whats wrong?

Rick bit his lip as few hot tears rolled down his checks " Daddy... I..I..." He pulled one of his hands back, wiping furiously at his eyes, as the tears started to flow again "... I had a accident... I'm sorry daddy..." Little choke sobs broke through as he tried to force himself to calm down but the surge of emotions was too strong to stop.

" Hey, hey. Shhh. Its okay bud" Andrew went against what he was trying not to do, which was pull Rick to him, but he couldn't stand to see him so upset. "C'mere, I'm not mad at all, okay?" he said, tugging Rick gently towards him, to his relief he doesn't pull away. He wraps his arms around rick, squeezes tight, as he feels Rick ducking his head into his shoulder.

After a few minutes, he can hear Rick breathing starting to level out, and the crying subsiding "You ready to go to your room? I''ll help you get cleaned up if you want?" Andrew waits, tries to be patient, cuddling Rick and letting him hug on really, really tight. Few more minutes pass he got a slight mod from Rick.

He took Rick arm and helps him to his feet, Andrew still couldnt see the extent of how wet Rick actually was, but there- was a small puddle underneath Rick on the concrete floor.

" Its okay, I'll clean the mess up" the aid said seeing the small puddle " And sir, we have cleaned up his room also" He gave a small smile

Andrew thanked the man greatly and made a mental note to get him gift or something for helping out so much. He wraps his arm around Rick and lets him bury his face into his side while he guides him to back to his bedroom.

" Come on Rick, lets get you cleaned up" he pried Rick from his side once they got into the bathroom. Andrew made quick work of the mess, pulling down Ricks sopping pajama pants, and the very soggy pull-up. he got a wet wash cloth and wrung it out a little, then knelt down. he set the cloth down against Ricks lower stomach and began to gently wipe belly down and then thighs down. He dipped the cloth, wrung it out again and began wiping his buttocks down.

"Daddy" a small voice spoke

" Yes bud" Andrew put the down the towel and look up to two teary, big blue eyes blinking down at him. " Whats wong"

"Can you stay with me " He rubbed at his eyes

"Of course I will" He helped Rick into his new pull up and pajamas " Arms up" he tucked the old t-shirt of and quickly replaced it with a new one " Now lets get you into bed, I  know you must really be tired" He gave him a small smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I continue writing this story? I'm not getting much feedback other then kudos. So, I really not sure if anyone likes this story or not.


	5. Continuance

I will be updating this story soon. More than likely next week sometime.

And thanks everyone for the feedback.


	6. Whole world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know its been a couple of months since i updated this story I've been so busy with school and work haven't really had that much free time. With so much time gone by I'm not sure if anyone still interested in this story lol
> 
> But i hope y'all enjoy :)

Morning came quick. A little to quick for Andrew who had made a bed on the couch in Ricks room. It was a quarter to 7 when he hurried and turned his alarm off trying his best not to wake Rick. He had just fallen asleep a few hours ago. It took over an hour or so to get Rick to fully calm down and to believe him, when he said he was going to be right by his side through the night. Even when he did finally clunk out he still had a death grip hold on the sleve of his shirt. 

Since the first day they met he had noticed small changes in Rick. Some of those changes was Rick becoming slightly more clingy and dependent on him, which he chalked up to him just being in a new environment. However, he would never think it would go this far. It was a complete shock to him to find out Rick would actually be that dependent to point he thought Andrew was his father. Rick barely spoke to him in the time they spent together the most he would get out of him on a good day was a couple of full sentences and Rick actually pulling him towards a puzzle he just completed

"Look" he would usually say around his thumb that he nervously chewed on. 

And without hesitation Andrew would always give him praise on the good job he did. Usually Rick would be standing by him, head down, and turning a light shade of pink.   
He laid there for an extra twenty minutes recalling last night events that just kept replaying and replaying in his head, and the questions that followed. Was Rick going to be okay? Was this just brought on by the night terror? Will this happen every time he had one?

With a sigh, Andrew got up quietly and snuck out the room and down the hall to his office. There, he had a small bathroom completed with a shower and some fresh clothes he kept just in case of emergency. 

Once out the shower and into some clean clothes he felt more refreshed and relaxed. He sat down at his desk and started a email to Ricks Psychiatrist, detailing the events from the night before. He thought this was best to do before Ricks appointment later that day so they could possibly discuss it and get further insight on what was going on with him. He hit send and hurried his way back down to Ricks room. 

The sound of the door closing -got a slight stir from the person under the thick blanket. He took a deep breath before he shook him slightly “Hey bud?” He held his breath  
It was almost killing him not knowing 

He gave another shake to his shoulder before he saw eyes flutter open “How you feeling Rick?” he said keeping his voice soft. He watch as Ricks face contorted in the matter of two seconds with fresh tears threatening to spill over as he sat up and made grabby hands. 

“Dad..dy..” the voice that came out was shrill and cracked.

Without hesitation Andrew sat down and took Rick into his arms and rubbed small circles in the middle of his back. “I'm here. It's no need to cry, alright. It was just a bad dream it wasn't real” He hurried and shushed him. 

They sat for a few minutes before he pulled rick from his shoulder so they were faced to face, and wiped the tears away with his thumbs. Even though a few more tears fell it seem just the sight of Andrew calmed him a little more. 

Without words Andrew took Ricks hand and helped him from the bed revealing a tell tale wet spot from where his pull-up had leaked. He made a mental note to look for better absorbent, and maybe even thicker pull ups, but for right now he led Rick to the bathroom and sat him down on the open toilet seat while he started the water for a warm bath. 

He turned to the still sniffling Rick. That now had his thumb firmly planted in his mouth and the other arm holding himself. If he had any hopes for Rick to snap out of whatever he was going through the night before they were certainly gone now. Not only that it was very clear to him this wasn't a act. Ricks eyes had to much trust in them when he turned back towards him, as if Andrew was his whole world.


	7. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished the chapter. i decided to make it kind of lengthy so enjoy :)

“Mr. Evans and Grimes? Right this way” The receptionist guided them to door and opened it. 

Andrew gave her a small thanks and walked in tugging on Ricks hand while he practically dragged him in. Rick, who was to say the least appeared to be very nervous going in to see the psychiatrist, which was very surprising since he has been there every day from his arrival at the facility. 

“No, no Rick I need you to stay in your seat” He put his hand across Ricks chest to prevent him from getting up from the chair that was beside his. “ We need to talk to Mr. Walsh, Okay?”. Andrew took Rick hand in to his hoping to settle him a little bit “everything is going be alright” he soothed.

Rick gave him a slight nod, promptly used the hand that was free and stuck his thumb in his mouth.  
“Rick I don't know if you recognize me or not, but we've been meeting for our session here for last couple of weeks. Do you remember what we talked about at our last session?” His voice was low, calm, yet there was a hint of sternness . 

There was long pause before Andrew gave Ricks hand a squeeze too remind him he was still there for him. “I don't know...” he mumbled around his thumb “My family”

“Yes, that right. We were talking about a few people that you cared about back in alexandria but we didn't get to finish yesterday. Would you like to finish today?” Walsh gave a quick glance to Andrew. Which gave him a assumption that he was going to try and get to the bottom of Rick's regression., 

After another long pause, which wasn't uncommon at all through their session he went on to ask another question “let me ask you this Rick, you told me a little about Carol and then we were moving on to someone named Daryl when we left off. However can you tell me who Andrew here” he gave a small gestured towards him “Means to you”

And this time there wasn't no hesitation, pause, and his voice was clearer in his answer “My daddy” he gave the psychiatrist almost a quizzical look. As if he should've knew. 

“My apologies Rick, I didn't know. I figured you would've brought him up when we were discussing the people you cared about. Was your daddy not with you when you were in alexandria?” 

He shut his eyes tightly and shook his head furiously as if he was trying to shake a bad memory off “No...” his voice cracked “..I...we..” he pulled his hand back from Andrew to wipe at his eyes before he continued. “I didn't know where he was.... I woke up alone ...and I could never find him... no matterrr how hard I looked” he used the back of his sleeve to wipe at his runny nose as he choked down a sob. Moments passed and he hadn't realized he still had his eyes shut till his daddy started to rub small circles in his back. When he finally calmed down, he opened his eyes but decided to look at the ground instead at the doctor, before he continued.

Walsh listened attentively to Ricks account to what happened on how he and Andrew had got separated, throughout the exchange he documented the changes he noticed in Rick from there last sessions. Even though he was more actively and open to talking, his vocabulary had diminished, he needed the comfort of Andrew greatly, and over all acted more childlike. At the end of the session Walsh came to a same conclusion just as Andrew had said in the email, Rick had regressed, and he was very much unaware of his past. 

Walsh let Rick finish talking before he spoke “That's amazing Rick! To witness all of those horrible things you seen and you still didn't give up on finding you dad. You're a very resilient and brave boy.”

“I am?” Rick looked up meekly 

He couldn't help but smile “Yes, you are! Also, I have a favored to ask you and requires you to be a big boy, you think you can do it? If your not comfortable with doing it you can just say, No” he waited till he got a small nod from Rick before he continued “Me and your daddy need talk alone you think you can sit outside the door if I get you a chair? I can move the curtains from the door so you will be able to still see him.” 

Andrew could see the wheels in Ricks head turning and the expression he had on his face was leaning towards a no, but before he could get it out Andrew gave him a quick reinsurance “Can you be brave for me bud? I know its asking a lot but I promise I'm not going go anywhere” he gave Rick a minute to think it over again before he finally agreed. “Thats my big boy” he took his hand and lead him to the door where Walsh had already removed the curtain from the door with a chair sitting not far from it. He guided Rick to sit and he stooped down a little so they were at eye level “If you start to get scared or worried just open the door, Okay?” 

Rick gave a small nod feeling nonverbal at the moment and took his thumb into his mouth for some comfort. 

Andrew meekly smiled feeling a bit guilty for having to leave him out there knowing he was terrified but he needed answers. He closed the door and made his way back to his seat “So whats going? You think he will come out of this?” he spluttered out before the doctor could even sit down.

“I think..” he trailed off grabbing not only his notebook he was taking notes in but also his seat “you were right, he has regressed and its not something he is aware of. He has intertwined what he can't deny, which is the social experiment he has gone through with something he wants or needs at the moment, which is you. I believe once he gotten out of the zombie infected world his mind wasn't consumed with surviving and taking care of a large groups of people anymore and was instead, replaced with just the tragedies that happened there. In essence, his mind has reverted back to a age where he feels safe, where stress was non-existent, and a adult or parent was there to make things better when something went wrong.” He was trying to get the point quick before Rick became to anxious out in the hall “ how long do I think he'll stay like this? I truly don't have answer for that. He can be like this for a couple of days and revert back to how he was or he can regress to different ages. Only time will tell” He paused for a quick second. Pondering if he should ask he question or not “ Do you think you'll be able to handle the situation? I know...”

“ I can” he said trying to keep his voice low and his facial expression to the minimum to not upset Rick “ The death of my son was hard on me especially so soon after my wife passing” he took a deep breath “I wouldn't have came back to work if I didn't feel like I was ready however I can say this regression is something different for me, but different isn't a bad thing. For the past couple of weeks since he's been placed with me I felt happier. .and...needed. Thats something I haven't felt in a long time”

“Well I'm glad you feel that way this might be good for the both of you” he stood up to shake his hand “I better let you go, looks like someone needs you” He turned his head towards the door

Andrew followed his gaze to a teary eyed Rick, who had just opened the door a sliver. He heard soft mumble that he figured was probably “daddy”. He thanked the doctor before he made his way to the door and took rick into arms to give him a big hug.

“your not... mad” 

“Why would I be mad?” he gave him a squeeze

“I wasn't brave” he heard him sniffle into his shoulder

He pulled Rick away so they were facing each other “yes you were, bud and I'm going tell you a secret” he leaned forward close to Ricks ear “I think you're might be braver then me” he leaned back to see a almost shocked expression his face. 

“Nun uhhn, daddy. Daddies are always brave”

He couldn't help but laugh when he took his hand and started walking back to the room having a "nun uhn" and "uhn huh" battle all the way back.


End file.
